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Sophie Masloff, who became the first female mayor in Pittsburgh in 1988 and whose notoriety would go beyond the city's borders, died Sunday. She was 96.

Masloff had been a City Council member for 12 years beginning in 1976 and was president when then-Mayor Richard Caliguiri died in 1988. She served as interim mayor for a year and then won election in her own right in 1989. She would remain as mayor until 1994 when she retired.

But Masloff's time serving Pittsburgh stretched back much further. She had been active in the city's Democratic Party since the 1930s and before joining Pittsburgh City Council worked for the Allegheny County Commissioner and the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.

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Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto was among the many mourning Masloff's passing in a prepared statement Sunday morning:

"Sophie Masloff personified Pittsburgh — she was kind and approachable, but you dared not underestimate her. Like so many of those who built our city, she was self-made, the daughter of immigrants, and civic-minded — she committed herself to public life for decades, rising from a teenage political leader to the top of Pittsburgh government as the city's first female mayor."

Peduto said he saw her as a friend and adviser.

"Whenever we met for coffee I would always think how amazing it was to get advice from her, just as David Lawrence did years before," Peduto said. "I know I speak for the whole city when I say Sophie — a trailblazer camouflaged in grace and humor — will never be forgotten."

Others praised Masloff on Twitter as well.

"Farewell to a Pittsburgh legend," tweeted Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale upon hearing of her death.